Flat Bench Press

[MASS MONSTER MIKE]

The Flat Bench Press (free weight) gets alot of flack these days, but it's how Arnold, Franco, Bertil, Ronnie, etc. built the best pecs on the planet AND got that thickness. You can always spot the guys who don't do Flat Benches with barbells: they have no chest.

[Darren Avey]

Heavy incline dumbbells. Varying the incline for each of the 4sets.

[Dave D]

Moderate weight hammer strength presses for high reps. Feel the contraction on each rep.

[visualizeperfection]

I mostly use upright rows for max reps.

[Dave D]

Forget that BS. There ia no substitute for laying on a flat bench and banging out reps with 3 plates on both sides of the bar. (In my own case it's 4 plates on each side, for high reps)

You dont train for strength and that's good. Keep using moderate weight for  high reps.

[Hulkotron]

OP spends a lot of time thinking about men's chests

[Darren Avey]

Forget that BS. There ia no substitute for laying on a flat bench and banging out reps with 3 plates on both sides of the bar. (In my own case it's 4 plates on each side, for high reps)

Of course you do

[Iron-Muscle]

Of course you do

he does 4-dimes per side

[IroNat]

Obviously they did a lot of bench presses but I think it's more likely Arnold and Franco built their chests/backs with dips and pullups.

Banging out 3-5 sets of dips and pullups as a warmup was the routine for those guys at Golds.

If you want the bench press to really affect the pecs for looks you flare the arms and take a wide grip.  Great for the chest but rough on the rotator cuff.

[LurkerNoMore]

The flat bench press is a good movement, unfortunately 9 out 10 people ruin it by fucking up their form.  Arching their back, bouncing it off their chest, etc....  It can be beneficial, but not the way they do it.  Much like preacher curls.  People go too heavy and their ass comes off the seat during the descent, then when they reach the bottom they sort of dip their ass and body downwards while dropping their shoulders and leveraging the weight back up.  Everything they could do to fuck up the exercise they do and then decide it is one those exercises that "just doesn't work for them". 

[tatoo]

The flat bench press is a good movement, unfortunately 9 out 10 people ruin it by fucking up their form.  Arching their back, bouncing it off their chest, etc....  It can be beneficial, but not the way they do it.  Much like preacher curls.  People go too heavy and their ass comes off the seat during the descent, then when they reach the bottom they sort of dip their ass and body downwards while dropping their shoulders and leveraging the weight back up.  Everything they could do to fuck up the exercise they do and then decide it is one those exercises that "just doesn't work for them".

flat dumbell presses for me these days..... this guy at my gym tore a bicep doing retarded heavy preacher curls.... i saw the whole thing go down..  never did the exercise again!.... his bi looked like it slithered up into his delt... dude was strapped to the bar, got pulled over the top of the bench and scorpioned.. worst injury ive ever witnessed in person!

[Royalty]

For me, flat bench presses with a barbell are mandatory. Flat bench dumbbell flyes are also needed.

[Bevo]

This stupid fucking gimmick

[MCWAY]

The Flat Bench Press (free weight) gets alot of flack these days, but it's how Arnold, Franco, Bertil, Ronnie, etc. built the best pecs on the planet AND got that thickness. You can always spot the guys who don't do Flat Benches with barbells: they have no chest.

Because the old-school benches had narrow uprights, many of the old-timers did a WIDE-GRIP bench press with their hands touching the collars. Serge Nubret was famous for that. And he could do 400+ in that style.




IFBB Hall of Famer, Leroy Colbert (the first guy to build 21" arms without steroids, as he loved to remind everyone  ) swore by wide-grip benches. I do them on the Smith Machine, towards the end of my chest workouts. I call them "Leroys".

[Bevo]

Because the old-school benches had narrow uprights, many of the old-timers did a WIDE-GRIP bench press with their hands touching the collars. Serge Nubret was famous for that. And he could do 400+ in that style.




IFBB Hall of Famer, Leroy Colbert (the first guy to build 21" arms without steroids, as he loved to remind everyone  ) swore by wide-grip benches. I do them on the Smith Machine, towards the end of my chest workouts. I call them "Leroys".

Don’t you also think that today’s guys have huge shoulders that overpower their chest? Back then all the guys didn’t have them, and the sake of mass monsters these days

[MCWAY]

Don’t you also think that today’s guys have huge shoulders that overpower their chest? Back then all the guys didn’t have them, and the sake of mass monsters these days

I don't think their shoulders overpower their chests, per se. Perhaps, they don't quite develop the pecs correctly. The last guy I've seen really use the bench press for pure pec development (even with the impressive weights he uses) would be Kai Greene.

[TheShape.]

Don’t you also think that today’s guys have huge shoulders that overpower their chest? Back then all the guys didn’t have them, and the sake of mass monsters these days

Yes even many amateur bodybuilders have overdeveloped shoulders and underdeveloped chests. It’s the new modern look but the muscles don’t flow together very well. At least, that’s how I see it.

[#1GymRat]

you on ly lift up dicks and obolls with you mouth and yoju only liek  men!!!!!  Hahahahaha

The Flat Bench Press (free weight) gets alot of flack these days, but it's how Arnold, Franco, Bertil, Ronnie, etc. built the best pecs on the planet AND got that thickness. You can always spot the guys who don't do Flat Benches with barbells: they have no chest.

[Griffith]

Because the old-school benches had narrow uprights, many of the old-timers did a WIDE-GRIP bench press with their hands touching the collars. Serge Nubret was famous for that. And he could do 400+ in that style.




IFBB Hall of Famer, Leroy Colbert (the first guy to build 21" arms without steroids, as he loved to remind everyone  ) swore by wide-grip benches. I do them on the Smith Machine, towards the end of my chest workouts. I call them "Leroys".

Is flared wide grip like that not harder on the shoulders?

[Darren Avey]

 After I incline the  155s on the dumbbells this evening I'm gonna try very wide flat. Will do for a couple of months see how it goes

[oldtimer1]

All the 400lbs plus benchers I'm still in touch with have ruined shoulders and elbows. Hard to bench hard from your teens to your 50's without ruined joints. Some will say it's a worthy trade off.  See if you think the same when you get there.  I would argue we all would have been better off if the exercise wasn't the premier exercise with guys. When you ask how much do you lift it's always refers to the bench.  So many guys can bench 400lbs but can't lift a 225lbs bar from the floor to over head. Phony useless strength demonstrated in a bench.

[irishdave]

Incline is better

God be with the days of my 150kg inclines for reps

After my torn leg I may never see it again

But I’ll try

[MCWAY]

Is flared wide grip like that not harder on the shoulders?

Not for me, especially if I do flyes first.

[Humble Narcissist]

Is flared wide grip like that not harder on the shoulders?

Yes, they wreck the shoulders.

[MCWAY]

Yes, they wreck the shoulders.

It doesn't seem to have bothered Haney, Nubret, or Oliva.

But, as the saying goes, one man's poison is another man's meat.